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A soldier left with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when an RAF plane plummeted towards the ground due to a 'bored pilot' has won hundreds of thousands of pounds compensation from the MoD.

The long-serving soldier, who was convinced he was going to die after a terrifying mid-air ordeal in February 2014, has settled his claim against the Ministry of Defence.

Soldier B, who joined the army in 2002, was one of 187 passengers in a RAF Voyager aircraft flying from RAF Brize Norton to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. At 33,000ft, the plane suddenly plummeted towards the ground. Some passengers were pinned to the ceiling due to the force of the descent.

The accident was caused by the Pilot’s personal camera which he had brought on board and which became jammed in flight-deck equipment.

But after Flt Lt Andrew Townshend regained control of the aircraft, he allegedly lied in both a technical log and service inquiry and insisted the incident had been caused by a technical fault.

The pilot’s Nikon DSLR camera was positioned in front of his arm rest and became jammed with the plane's controls when he moved his seat forward in the incident. The camera wedged between his arm rest and the 'side-stick' - a joystick used to control the plane - which pushed it forward, disengaging the auto-pilot and causing the plane to nosedive.

A Court Martial in 2017 heard Flt Lt Townshend was bored while flying from the UK to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and “practicing long-exposure photography when his co-pilot left the cockpit to get a cup of tea”.

The incident occurred on 9th February 2014 and, as a result of his injuries, Soldier B was discharged from the army last year.

A spokesman for his legal team said: “This terrifying ordeal was entirely avoidable. Our client was convinced he was going to die - as were those around him.

“As a result of the sudden and unexpected dive, Soldier B was thrown around and suffered soft tissue injuries.

An MoD spokesman said: "“We carefully consider all claims and pay compensation where we have a legal obligation to do so. As litigation is currently ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”